CAMP VICTORY, Iraq – Master Sgt. Roberto Caesar, operations sergeant, Office of the Division Surgeon, Division Troop Command, Special Troops Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, speaks at the ceremony opening the memorial to Sgt. Johnny Joe Peralez Jr. Sep. 10. Peralez died Jan. 5 near Karbala while providing medical coverage for his team during convoy operations, when the vehicle he was riding in was struck by an improvised-explosive device. The Johnny J. Peralez Jr. School of Combat Medicine was formally dedicated to his memory. Peralez, from Kingsville, Texas, who died a month before his 26th birthday, was the first Soldier-medic to die during the division's current rotation to Iraq.
(U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Mary Mott, 363rd MPAD)